1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to equipment for use in practicing and/or playing a variety of sporting activities, including, without limitation, baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, and hockey.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of practice equipment has been proposed for sporting activities. Examples of such equipment are shown in Bay et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,267, Booth et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,326, Favor, U.S. Pat. No. 469,554, Kifferstein et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,524, Kriekard, U.S. Pat. No. 2,201,865, Larkin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,028, Loh, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,886, Macosko, U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,485, Meurer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,020, Playter, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,952, Tallent et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,996, and Ziel, U.S. Pat. No. 2,873,969.
Notwithstanding this variety of proposed designs, to date, there has not existed a convenient, practical, and economical system for practicing and/or playing a variety of sports in the confines of a typical residential setting. In particular, what the art has needed is a sports practice system which is of a size large enough to be effectively used by children of all ages, including, in particular, young children, and at the same time is easy to set up, easy to store, usable with a variety of sports, and manufacturable at a reasonable cost. As discussed below the present invention provides such a sports practice system.